Dolomites!

Wicked Pissa !

Breathtaking, inspiring and stunning!!

What a breathtakingly awesome adventure! You are brave to have done it on your own. My husband is talking about a trip to the dolomites to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary next year. Maybe this inspiring trip report and your stunning photos will help him decide to go!!!

Wow! Those Dolomites are dynamite! Spectacular photos! Thank you for sharing!

Wow Rebecca! Way to go. Great photos and what a fantastic solo adventure. Between your TR and Pudgy_Groundhog's TR, Vermont is looking a little ho-hum right about now!

Killer report - what did you think of Italy in general? Was I right about the food, etc... ??

welcome home.

Astonishing photos. Super

Nothing short of spectacular rebecca... thanks ..i look at pics tonight as work blocks them sometimes... WOW!!!

Great report and jaw dropping pics Rebecca.Alaska,Italy...keep on living my dreams for me.I think I will relocate to one of those rifuggios.

Having now reviewed all the photos I can concur with everyone else on the thread. What an amazing trip.

So, what did you bring us for presents?

Outstanding report and pictures. That's what I call a "Dream Vacation".

Little D

Fantastic TR and photos, Juniper! Bravo!! Still have not been there, but your story brought back great memories of camp fires at the base of Cathedral Ledge when Steve Arsenault would show up from Nam on R&R and needle Joe Cote about his indecision about going to Yosemite or the Dolomites for a climbing weekend.

Beautiful - I'm speechless!

Your pictures are SO FANTASTIC!! This had to rate a second comment from B&G -- this time 'G'. I drove through a small section of the Dolomites a few years ago, and had my nose plastered against the car window to check out the mtns. It was so incredible even from the road. I also noticed that similar to Austria, there appears to be a rule that most buildings have to have flower boxes in the windows - I think you are automatically expelled from the country if you can't grow them correctly. Thanks so much for sharing your TR and photos!!

I think this calls for a slide show.......I would love to see the pictures on a big screen......stunning indeed!

It would be fantastic presentation! I was going to go to bed early when I saw your great trip report......that was like an hour ago....

Observe that I didn't say "Shake and Bake"

Inspiring report!

What a dreamy report and collection of pics! Now that you've done the route, you should check out Miriam Underhill's classic book "Give Me the Hills". In it she describes her first woman ascents of many of the crags in the Dolomites pictured in your report. I recognize some of them from photos in her book. Done back in the early days when technical climbing gear was still in process of being invented.

Very Nice...gotta luv the civility of Europe!

Great shots and nice trip report -- don't you love hiking in Italy?

(Well, Italy in general?)

The pictures brought back some great memories of when we were last over there...

Love It!

The Dolomites is my favorite place ever. Via Ferratas all day, wine and killer food all night - repeat. And at low elevations, great history and warm, beautiful people.

If I had life to live over - I would have run away from home at 17 straight for the Dolomites.

Cool TR. Sounds like you enjoyed the Dolomites as much as we did. Awesome place.

- darren

Juniper, awesome TR and stunning photographs!! I, too, just returned from 18 days in Italy--half of it spent in the Dolomites--and was totally blown away by the whole experience!

Sept. 18-22 Chris and I did the Alta Via 1 which runs from Lago de Brais, near Dobbiaco, southward to Belluno, roughly parallel and east of the AV2. The AV1 is a bit shorter and easier than the AV2, with only one easy via ferrata section on Novolau Ridge (our 3rd day) and one harder, very long (reportedly 3-hour!) ferrata section over the Schiara in the very last stretch which can also by bypassed. We did the first and bypassed the second having (intentionally) not brought the proper gear. Our route was somewhere in the 80-90 mile range, and we did it in a leisurely 5 days--SO much to take in! (BTW, the FKT is sub 20 hours!)

With an early season storm producing a dusting to upwards of a foot of snow on Sept. 14, we were skeptical of our ability to pull this off this late in the season; however, the weather gods were in our favor, melting all the snow and providing perfect hiking conditions each day. Not knowing what Mother Nature had in store for us, we brought along quite a bit of extra clothing--not a problem, though, since that was about all we had to carry! Our packs were probably somewhere in the 15 lb. range, but one could go a lot lighter.

I am not a "hut person" at all, but when in Rome... I must also admit that hot showers, good food, booze (wine, beer, grappa, you name it!), espresso, and a real bed each night, all the while amongst spectacular surroundings... views of the famous Dolomite peaks--Tofane, Pelmo, Civetta, Schiara, Marmolada--all around!... well, it's really hard to beat. Just remember to bring lots of Euros; this was not exactly an inexpensive trip.

We did not see any other Americans on our trek; in fact, the Italians and Germans seemed surprised by our presence, one group asking "How did you decide to do THIS trail?!" (the answer being I merely happened upon a AV1&2 guidebook while browsing a cool map/bookstore in downtown Seattle last spring).

We spent the rest of our trip visiting my childhood (2nd and 3rd grade--Air Force brat) home in Aviano, and in Florence. The Dolomites were definitely the best part, and I wish we'd spent the second half of the trip doing the AV2!

I highly recommend these trails to all who have expressed interest. PM me if you have questions. If I get around to it, I'll put up a more detailed report/photos on my blog www.runsuerun.blogspot.com but am a big jetlagged right now.